Italians dejected after Euro championship loss to Spain

4-0 in Kiev, Red Fury enter legend

(ANSAmed) - ROME, JULY 2 - Spain beat Italy 4-0 on Sunday night
to retain their European title in the biggest victory margin in
a Euro final, leaving Italian fans dejected.

Goals by David Silva, Jordi Alba, Fernando Torres and Juan Mata
brought the world champions to an easy victory and a record
third win in major tournaments after the 2008 Euro championship
and the 2010 World Cup.

Injury forced four-times world champion Italy to end the game
with ten players.

Spain took the lead in the 14th minute and though Italy
responded with eight goal attempts, the team, which was without
star striker Mario Balotelli, was thrashed with Spain's captain
Iker Casillas keeping his record of not conceding a goal in a
tournament knockout stage since the 2006 World Cup.

Italian fans who had defied the heat and gathered in piazzas in
all major cities to watch the game were deluded after hopes had
been raised by Italy's 2-1 win over Germany in the semi-finals
against all expectations.

In the capital Rome, some 500,000 fans gathered at the Circo
Massimo and in Milan's Piazza del Duomo many of the 60,000 fans
who had chosen to watch the game outdoors left midway through
the match. Almost all T-shirts written with 'European Champions'
on sale across Italy for 15 euros remained unsold.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti who watched the Euro final in
Kiev praised the team after the game: 'I went into the changing
room and told the boys that they made us dream. Tonight we have
woken up, but we must be proud of them'.